Help just rescued two electric blue acaras

[Kaylab2021]

Need some help and advice please

I have 3 tanks
240l with semi aggressive fish
160l with peaceful fish
And 65l q tank with 2 5-6 inch electric blue acaras.

A guy messages me on fb saying he had two free electric blue acaras for free with white spot that he had treated but can not get rid of.
I picked them up and they are covered the fins on the female are all shredded and hardly none left.

I put them straight into my qt tank with a white spot treatment and raised temp to 80f i also added some epsom salt to the tank.

Readings 0 amm 0 nitrite a little nitrate and 7.5ph tested with a water test.

My issue im having is they have started glass serfing and twitching?
Could this be because the treatment is working and the ich is falling off hense the twitching?
I have never seen ich so bad before, i have treated it before on smaller fish but never let it get this bad i feel sorry for these poor fish. I just want to get them healthy again so they can live a happy life the guy i got them of said he didnt know much about them just that there 3 years old. They almost a white colour as well and not fully blue like they should be. Any help would be great as this is my first time with acaras i was hoping to put them in with my baby 3-4inch oscar when there healthy enough and no white spot.
I do have a senegal bichir in with my oscar who has eaten a few of my smaller fish will the acaras be ok with the bichir i mean the acaras are massive compared to my bichir.
Any help or advice on these fish would be great thank you. Right now it is just them in the qt tank.

 

[Kaylab2021]

The female seems the worst of both, her fins are torn and she stays at top of tank at the back unless she sees me then she comes over but she just doesnt seem right

 

[GaryE]

They have a potentially fatal parasite that has been killing them for some time. Their odds of survival aren't good. You can't expect them to look right for weeks, if they even make it.
Surfing the glass can be an attempt to scratch the itch. Stay the course with the meds, and see how they do with proper care. If they survive, oscars will eat them, and they can be aggressive in their own right. That is down the road.

The female my be under attack from the male. Her behaviour sounds that way. It is a tiny tank for territorial fish that size. You are doing your best, but you have inherited a bit of a mess there.

 

[Kaylab2021]

Aw noooo i was just hoping it was a case of a bit of ich as the guy said he had just finished a course of ich treatment on them, iv had them in tank with no lights on so they didnt look to bad until i turned the light on yesturday to have a good look and there covered. The male does seem to be bullying the female when im not around he pushes her into one corner, when they can see me there both at front for food and seem chilled together while eating. I know this tank is not big enough just holding until i can fix these guys up, i do have bigger tanks i read that acaras will be ok with oscars? The oscar is no were near the size of the acaras and he not very aggressive towards other fish. Am i right in keeping the light of for these guys while trwating ich? Would meth blue be any good at this point or not while already using ich treatment. There sooo shy and timid i have already got a soft spot for them i just want them to be ok. I can always put them into my bigger peaceful community if they servive and rearrange some tanks about for them. They seem nice and fat and have a great appetite

 

[Kaylab2021]

Iv have just fed them to get some closer photos of them, i think they are a male and female pair? I think the female is the one with the torn fins, the males are ok. Can not see ich unless i turn on the light and dont really want to stress them any more

 

[GaryE]

You don't know how serious the online guy was about treating ich. I just read some people here who thought it magically vanished with water changes. People will do everything but use credible sources to research how to fight a simple parasite and you may be seeing the fruits of that. Ich kills, and you are dealing with it. Don't assume the previous owner really dealt with it.

I use malachite green based meds. Meth blue is less effective, but has worked in a pinch. But never mix meds without clear guidelines.

Blue acaras are far smaller than oscars, and what size your oscar is now is just for now. Acaras and oscars are long lived. Sometimes, oscars will ignore other cichlids because the spiky dorsals and other fins are potentially painful to swallow. The acaras will live with a major predator in a glass box, and I'm calling stressful on that!

But I have had blue acaras demolish communities of fair sized tankmates. They vary individually.

 

[Kaylab2021]

Yeh i unstand how fast oscars grow hes gained so much size in weeks, but hes so far soo good been friendly he does live with two natural blue acaras and he leaves them alone. I am bad with fish lately so can always get them a tank of there own if they survive and wont mix with my other tanks, i might also seperate them if the male keeps harrassing the female. Never had a breeding pair of fish before he said these are 3 years old ( again cant always beleive what people say so i hear you there, if he had been treating these fish from the first notice of infestion they would be this bad now) my question do fish breed through out there life or do they stop at a surtain age? Will they also try to breed while not in good health? I do not want more stress on the female. Would you say apart from tank size there in a minute im doing all i can? Or is there anything els you can think of? I just hope they pull through, i know to keep there water as clean as possible but i cant do water changes while using meds until its finished.

 

[Kaylab2021]

Do they look more white due to stress of the ich? Due to age? Sorry for all the questions

 

[GaryE]

They turn down their colours when they are unhappy, or afraid. Strong colours get noticed by predators.
I never bred blue acaras, but most pairs start young and breed til they're old. They can make it it past 15 years in ideal conditions. Yours are young.

I believe you have to think of a tank as a 5 year thing. It isn't how big your oscar is now, but the fact that you will take good care of the fish so he may realize his potential full size very soon. That full size is big and needs a lot of space.

Most hobby oscars are killed by their owners, who don't provide them with adequate homes and regular water quality care. I have a 120 gallon here, and I would not keep one oscar in it. They are too big and active, and the water changes would be constant. Very few aquarists think like I do.

 

[Kaylab2021]

Ooo ok so your thinking my oscar in 240l isnt enough space for him. I get what you mean oscars get big and need a big tank if he does outgrow my tanks i wouldnt see him suffer id rehome to some one with a bigger tank. I just hope the acaras pull through again i know people with big tanks so if they do pull through can always split them up if need be. I just need them to pull through so i can give them some qaulity of life lol feel like maybe they have just been used to breed and now there ill they have been thrown to one side which i dont like.

 

[Naughts]

I put them straight into my qt tank with a white spot treatment and raised temp to 80f i also added some epsom salt to the tank.

I recommend you return the heat to mid range - 80f is quite high for the acara but not high enough to kill ich. When in the free swimming stage of it's life cycle, ich can be killed by a temperature of 86f/ 30c.
I also recommend you remove the salt. Epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) is usually used to temporarily reduce excess fluids. Some people use aquarium salt (sodium chloride) to treat ich but a lot say it has no impact on ich.
The combination of meds, heat and epsom salt will leave the water very deficient in oxygen and could kill the fish. As you have, and are using, meds, just continue with them alone.

Are you wondering if you have blue acara rather than electric blue?

 

[Kaylab2021]

Right ok so i did a 20% change on the water to reduce the salt will keep on meds with heat and no light until medicine is finished, if that does not work shall i redue the course of medicine or just increase the heat?

 

[Naughts]

Personally I'm happier with heat (alone), but your fish have already been exposed to the medication so the best thing would be to stay the course. If they are still ill in a week or two, post pictures of the fish showing the ich so we can be clearer about the issue and decide on further action.

 

[Kaylab2021]

Ok will do thank you

 

[Kaylab2021]

Hi again just am update i am on my last day of treatment for ich, the fish are still alive and eating the male is less active and seems to just sit on the sand until i feed or walk near the tank and the female stays at the corner at the top unless i feed or walk past the tank. I have only raised the temp to 80.06f, i am a bit worried to increase more when the fish are already in a bad way. Will that temp still be ok to hurry up the ich? Is it a good sign that there still eatting and still coming to front and swimming when they see me? They have settled really well and seem to enjoy looking at me as i do them lol i really hope i can get them to pull through. Right now i am feeding floating cichlid pellets small amounts 3 times a day and frozen tropical mix once a week, dried tubifex worms but they just spat them out and made a mess, is there anything i can feed to increase there strength or immune? Thank you (these are my bigges fish all my rest are babies so have small pellets not really sure how much to feed these guys, but they always seem hungry)